1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a distribution system for conveying flowable material from a source downstream to a user location.
Distribution systems are used, inter alia, for conveying bulk food products such as crisps, cornflakes and similar products of relatively low mass and irregular shape from a source, such as an oven, to a number of processing points at which the product is, for example, packaged by packaging machines which dispense metered quantities of the product to successively presented packages or containers.
One of the problems associated with such distribution systems is that the fines of a product tend to collect at the first few outlets of the distribution system, as a result of which packages of the product from these outlets tend to have a greater than average content of fines. The term "fines" refers to the very small and sometimes powdery particles of the product which are well below the average size that is acceptable to the consumer.
The present invention seeks to provide an improved distribution system.